The forty year old relationship between Australia and China continues to grow with eighteen Albury-Wodonga La Trobe students taking part in a scholarship to discuss diplomatic relations with Chinese academics. Wodonga's Kathryn Bennett took us through her journey in Beijing where she discovered the prolific trade industry Australia shares with China and also that perhaps us laid-back Aussies should take a leaf out of our neighbouring country's book towards university work ethic.

The La Trobe students stayed at Peking University in Beijing for two weeks in December 2012 taking part in cultural visits and daily presentations with Chinese students and professors.

Bennett described her experience as eye-opening, in particular the gruelling dedication Chinese academics put towards their university studies.

"They go to uni seven days a week, so unlike what we know...They would be at uni for eight hours a day and then go home and study, whereas we would be at uni a couple of hours and then possibly study."

Bennett appreciated the culture in China where they go the extra mile to learn a second language.

"So many things they do are really different to the way we live, so many of them know English but we don't know Mandarin or Cantonese."

Bennett believed Australian businesses would benefit from an exchange in China as it would help build their knowledge and understand how the Chinese industry operates.